We're entered the part of the legislative session where committee agendas will get very long for the next few weeks so bills can be heard in their originating chamber, then get quiet for a couple of weeks as bills that are still moving switch chambers, then get long again for a couple of weeks as one chamber's bills are heard in committee.
With this week's bills, while a couple look to be good ones, the bad ones vastly outnumber them and range from merely bad to pure R propaganda.
Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.
Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to spread propaganda. Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority). My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.
Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4, generally at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, generally also at 1 p.m. Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.
Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible. Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.
Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments. Those involve inserting language that replaces the entirety of a bill. Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill become a very bad one.
On Monday, 2/3
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House and Senate Rules meet in their respective rooms. On the agendas: many bills.
House Health & Human Services meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. On the agenda: 12 bills, including HB2109, limiting insurance coverage for organ transplants that are related to China or Hong Kong; HB2693, limiting insurance coverage for genetic sequencing if it is related to a "foreign adversary"; HB2165, barring SNAP payments for candy and soft drinks.
All were proposed by Leo Biasiucci.
House Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. On the agenda; nine bills. Includes HB2201, which is subject to a striker pertaining wildfire mitigation plans and electric utilities.
It reads as if it was written by an industry lobbyist.
House Public Safety & Law Enforcement meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. On the agenda: six bills, one of which I've already discussed here.
Senate Finance meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. On the agenda: 12 proposals. Many of these look bad, but this agenda covers an area I know very little about.
Senate Military Affairs and Border Security meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: five bills, the majority of which are very bad. Includes SB1268, a move to require hospitals to inquire about a patient's immigration status when that patient is admitted for treatment.
House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections meets at 4 p.m. in HHR5. On the agenda: one bill. The bill: HB2703, a ploy to limit or even eliminate early voting.
On Tuesday, 2/4
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House Natural Resources, Energy & Water meets at 1:30 in HHR3. On the agenda: six proposals, all bad. My personal favorite: HCM2008, a love letter to the feds asking that the EPA's Region 9 HQ move to Arizona (AZ is in Region 9) or that AZ be moved into Region 8, where the EPA HQ is in Denver.
House Commerce meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5. On the agenda: 15 bills. Includes HB2450, a "we hate poor people" bill that shows that by proposing to reduce Arizona's already low Unemployment Insurance benefits.
House Education meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. On the agenda: eight bills. Mostly (but not entirely) ugly. Includes HB2670, a bill that would mandate anti-choice indoctrination for students in grades 7 and 8.
House Regulatory Oversight meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. On the agenda: four bills. Includes HB2684, an anti-homeless person proposal.
Senate Appropriation meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: seven bills.
Senate Natural Resources meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. On the agenda: five bills. Three of which read as if they were written by an industry lobbyist.
Tim Dunn appears to be the Senate's version of the House's Gail Griffin, and that's not a compliment.
On Wednesday, 2/5
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House Judiciary meets at 8:30 a.m.in HHR4. On the agenda: 12 bills. Many bad; some conventionally bad, some pure propaganda. My personal fave: HB2633, adding political and/or religious views to the list of acceptable reasons to file a legal action (the sponsor of this proposal, Alexander Kolodiin, is an attorney and put LOTS of clauses in this proposal, so I recommend reading it in its entirety.)
House Government meets at 9 a.m. in HHR5. On the agenda: 15 bills. Many bad, but a couple good. Good: HB2160, renaming the Arizona Commission of African-American Affairs as the Arizona Office of African American Affairs; and HB2578, creating a memorial for Don Bolles, an AZ Republic investigative reporter who was assassinated during the 1970s. Bad (and there's a few VERY bad bills here): HB2216, creating an anti-choice grant program for "pregnancy care" centers that lie to pregnant women; and HB2599, halving the time period when it's allowable to bring a legal action related to an improvement on real property and, if related to something covered by an owner's association, requiring a 2/3 vote of that association to initiate or proceed with that action.
There are other bad bills on the agenda, these are only two.
Senate Government meets at 9 a.m. in SHR1. On the agenda: seven bills. All bad.
Senate Health and Human Services meets at 9 a.m. in SHR2. On the agenda: seven bills. Many bad, including SB1246, watering down the legal definition of "child neglect".
Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency meets at 9 a.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: seven bills. Includes SB1352, making zoning decisions by a "legislative body" of a municipality etc. not subject to a referendum petition.
House Ways & Means meets at 10 a.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: eight bills.
House Appropriations meets at 2 p.m. in HHR1. On the agenda: three bills. All three are from the "we hate poor people" genus of Republican ideology - two seek to impose more requirements on SNAP recipients while the other seeks to reduce AHCCCS eligibility.
House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections meets at 2 p.m. in HHR4. On the agenda: 10 measures, all anti democracy. Personal fave: HB2440, seeking to bar state AG Kris Mayes from prosecuting criminally or litigating civilly against a county supervisor for failing to do his/her duty regarding elections.
House Science & Technology meets at 2 p.m. in HHR5, On the agenda: one bill.
House Transportation & Infrastructure meets at 2 p.m. in HHR3. On the agenda: eight bills.
Senate Education meets at 2 p.m. is SHR1. On the agenda: six bills, including SB1269, Wendy Rogers' proposal to put "volunteer school chaplains" in schools, and impose requirements on those schools related to that.
Senate Judiciary and Elections meets at 2 p.m. in SHR2. On the agenda: 14 bills, some bad. Includes SB1053, Wendy Rogers' hyper specific bill regarding "wildlife; firearms discharge; structures; distance". Actually, it is so specific it's very easy to get around.
From the bill -
It is unlawful for someone to...
Under that language, shooting at small game with buckshot or a slug shell, or shooting at big game with bird or game shot, or an arrow, would be legal.
Senate Public Safety meets at 2 p.m. in SHR109. On the agenda: 13 proposals. Includes SB1019 and SCR1002, Rogers' ploys to ban photo radar in Arizona. An SCR measure bypasses Governor Hobbs and goes directly to the voters.
On Thursday, 2/6
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Vulnerable Adult System Study Committee meets at 2 p.m. in SHR1. On the agenda: no bills, just a couple of presentation.
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